MANILA, Feb. 1 – The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) will hold a nationwide information and consultation drive with stakeholders, particularly in Mindanao to get their inputs on the peace process the government is conducting with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) starting Thursday (Feb. 4) to find a genuine and lasting solution to the long-drawn problem in southern Philippines.

OPAPP Secretary Annabelle T. Abaya told a press conference today that the consultations which she dubbed as “reflective dialogues” will be down to the grassroots level so that the people will be informed properly on the issues at bar.

She assured that the government will be transparent on all matters so that the public will be fully informed on the ongoing peace process.

Abaya said the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is passionate about the peace process for formal talks to resume and hopefully forge a peace agreement with the MILF before she steps down from office on June 30 this year.

The tri-media campaign will start in Metro Manila on Thursday before shifting to the Visayas and Mindanao with the latter the focus of the consultations.

Some 300 members from the cross-section of society will be invited for each dialogue to solicit their ideas for consideration by the government peace panel headed by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis.

Results of the dialogue will be presented to the MILF during the formal negotiations.

Abaya also said the government will distribute primer on the issues at hand so the people will understand the matters that will be discussed.

It will also conduct a survey to get the sentiments of the stakeholders, particularly those in Mindanao, she said.

According to Abaya, the intensified public consultations, together with a massive media information drive will last for two months.

 The Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and MILF peace panels exchanged draft proposals during their meeting in Kuala Lumpur last Jan. 27-28.

Abaya said the GRP submitted a 17-page draft while the MILF draft has more than 30 pages.

Both panels have gone back to their respective principals to study the proposed drafts.

The GRP and MILF panels have agreed to meet again in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 18-19 to discuss the drafts and the initial outcome of the consultations before formal talks open.

It may be recalled that talks with the MILF bogged down in August 2008 following the non-signing of the controversial Memorandum of the Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) which was ruled by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional.

However, during the lull of the negotiations, both panels continued their back-channeling efforts with the end in view of reviving the formal talks.